This is probably the best meteor shower of the year. It is the most reliable, as it regularly generates a visible meteor every 60 seconds. And, most people have heard of it. So, let’s look at what you can do to enhance your view.

Find a dark Sky. Not as easy as it sounds these days, but this advice is best broken down as follows:

• · Away from street lamps
• · Far away from houses with those annoying security lamps that pump out 500+ watts of raw light pollution whenever Tiddles the Cat saunters by
• · Far enough away from a town centre so that all of the light pollution doesn’t cause a general brightening of the sky.

Then, give yourself time to adjust to the darkness. I recently had a very powerful example of this whilst I was camping. I got up at 3am to trudge over to the toilet block. The sky met all of the criteria above and I was astounded by the brightness of the usual constellations. It was as though someone had turned the brightness control up full. Not only on the Plough (Great Bear) but also on the entire Milky Way. I have never seen such a display. Awesome!

But, after 2 minutes in the toilet block, where the lights were always on and could not be dimmed, I came back out and the star field was completely dim, boring and normal. Basically, I had lost the night adaption from being in the light. The only alternative was to wait for 20-30 minutes to get my night vision back. At 3am that was a tough call, so I went back to sleep!

Get Comfortable:

• This means, plenty of warm clothes
• You will need a reclining chair. A sun-lounger is ideal, along with a quilt if very cold
• Some warm drinks may be a good idea too.
• Then a basic map of the sky would help you locate Perseus, from where most of the meteors will appear to fly from.
• A low power torch, preferably one with a red filter. This will help to reduce the impact on your eye and preserve your night vision.

Then, get prepared to wait. I would recommend a good audio book to help you pass the time, bring yourself up to date on current issues, and just let your mind run free with the show. If you are not into audio, why not have your favourite music with you too?